A state legislator from Cincinnati wants the U.S. Justice Department to monitor the 2012 election in Ohio to ensure fairness.

Rep. Alicia Reece, D-Cincinnati, sent a letter to U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday asking him to send federal
elections monitors to watch over polling in Ohio this November.

Reece’s letter points to what she calls potential voter
confusion resulting from two federal court decisions over provisional
ballots and in-person early voting — decisions that have been appealed
by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.

“We need to ensure that Ohio has a smooth and fair election this November,” Reece wrote in an emailed statement.

“These two federal court decisions are a step in the right
direction for voters in Ohio, but the appeals processes are confusing
for voters. The presence of federal elections monitors will help restore
the integrity of the voting process. The entire country is looking at
Ohio.”

The first court decision ruled that county boards of
elections must count certain defective ballots if the mistakes were
caused by poll worker error.U.S.
District Judge Algenon Marbley ordered Husted to issue provisional
ballot envelopes with a checklist for poll workers to follow.

Husted has argued that allowing those ballots to be
counted conflicts with existing Ohio law that does not allow defective
provisional ballots to be counted.

The second court decision required Husted to allow in-person early voting for the three days leading up to the Nov. 6 election.

Husted had issued a directive to all 88 Ohio counties to
not allow voting on those days, and then ordered county boards to
suspend in-person early voting while he appealed the court’s ruling. He
rescinded that order after the judge ordered him to appear in court in
regards to the directive.

Reece was joined by area clergy and community leaders to announce the letter in a Wednesday morning news conference.

UPDATE: City Councilman Chris Bortz called Thursday morning to say that although Councilman Jeff Berding included Bortz's printed name as a co-sponsor on Berding's motion, Bortz won't sign the pledge. "I think it's premature to sign a pledge at this stage," Bortz said. "I support the thrust of it."

The Horseshoe Casino is kicking off its hiring process for
a new batch of employees. In total, the casino is seeking to fill 750
new positions. New employees must be 21 and have a high school diploma
or GED, among other requirements. The casino says it’s committed to
keeping at least 90 percent of its workforce from the Greater Cincinnati
area. It’s currently estimated to open in spring 2013.

The early voting controversy has reached Hamilton County.
The Democrats in City Council are pushing for extended in-person early
voting hours as Democrats around the state accuse Republicans of voter
suppression. The Hamilton County Board of Elections will decide on the
voting hours issue tomorrow at 9 a.m.

Four Greater Cincinnati companies ranked in the 2012 Inc.
500 list of the fastest-growing businesses nationwide, up from one last
year. This year, NorAm International Partners, Tiger Fitness, Graybach
and Integrity Express Logistics made the list.

The Brent Spence Bridge passed a major regulatory hurdle
Tuesday. The Federal Highway Administration declared that the bridge has
no significant environmental impact, which will allow bridge operators
to skip filing an environmental impact statement.

Ohio Democrats are suing Gov. John Kasich over his public
schedule. Democrats say Kasich is breaking the law by not being more
transparent about his public schedule. They also suspect Kasich is campaigning on the behalf of presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The Ohio endangered species list has been updated. The bobcat
is no longer listed as endangered, although it is still considered
threatened. The list’s updates can be seen here.

Paul Ryan will be at Miami University today. The visit was organized by the university's campus Republicans. Doors will open at 3:30 p.m., and the event will start at 5:30 p.m. Instructions for tickets can be found on the Miami Republicans' Facebook page.

The audio for the 911 call Councilmember Chris Seelbach made to report being assaulted has been released to the public. During the call, Seelbach admits to drinking alcohol that night. Apparently, people are shocked that Seelbach is a human being that drinks alcohol.

City Council voted yesterday to put a ballot initiative before voters that, if approved, would let councilmembers remain in power for four years, up from two years under current law. The initiative would let local policymakers worry more about passing good policy and less about getting reelected every other year.

City Council also approved an ordinance that bans wastewater injection wells, which are used to dispose of wastewater produced during fracking, within city limits. But the ordinance is little more than politics at this point, considering the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has received no permit requests for injection wells in southwestern Ohio, and ODNR spokesperson Heidi Hetzel-Evans says southwestern Ohio’s geology makes injection wells unfeasible.

There are more benefits to legalizing same-sex marriage than just giving a bunch of people basic rights without hurting anyone. A new study found that Ohio could gain $100-126 million in economic growth from same-sex marriage legalization. The study is being used by Freedom to Marry Ohio to promote the Freedom to Marry and Religious Freedom Amendment, which the organization hopes will be on the November 2013 ballot.

Comair Inc. disclosed that 1,194 employees will be losing their jobs when the airline halts operations on Sept. 29. The airline, which is owned by Delta, is headquartered at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Mayor Mark Mallory and local attorney Stan Chesley announced yesterday that 10 Cincinnati pools will remain open for one whole extra week — keeping them open until the beginning of the school year. Since the city can’t pay for the entire extra week, Chesley raised $25,000, which the Cincinnati Recreation Foundation matched with another $25,000, to keep the pools open. All pools but one will also have free admission for the rest of the year. The one exception is Otto Armleader Pool at Dunham, which will have $2 admission, down from $5.

In a surprising show of bipartisanship, the Ohio legislature and Gov. John Kasich passed the “second chance” law. The law will make it easier for convicted criminals to continue on with their lives after their time is served.

President Barack Obama was in Akron yesterday.Glenn Beck says he is planning a big event in Ohio for the week of Sept. 12. Beck is known for literally crying on national television and disapproving of most of what Obama does.

The activist branch of a liberal telecommunications company
has filed a petition asking the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate
allegations that Murray Energy forced miners in Beallsville, Ohio to
attend a rally for Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.

CREDO Action Campaign Manager Josh Nelson told CityBeat that the group emailed the petition with 4,021 signatures to the Department of Labor Wednesday morning.

The petition reads: "Requiring employees to attend a Mitt
Romney political rally without pay is totally unacceptable. I urge you
to conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether Murray Energy
violated any federal laws on August 14th, and to hold it fully
accountable if it did."

Romney appeared at the event to attack what he called
President Barack Obama’s “war on coal.” He was flanked on stage by
hundreds of miners with soot-stained faces.

Dozens of those miners told WWVA-AM West Virginia talk
show host David Blomquist that they were pulled from the mine before
their shift was over and not paid for the full day of work. The miners,
who Blomquist did not identify, said they were told that attendance at
the rally was mandatory.

Murray Energy Chief Financial Officer Rob Moore told
Blomquist on his radio show that managers “communicated to our workforce
that the attendance at the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was
forced to attend.”

He said that people who did not show up to the event,
which organizers say drew 1,500 miners and family members, were not
penalized for their absence.

“Forcing Ohio workers to participate in a political rally
is unacceptable, so we're joining our friends at SEIU in calling on the
U.S. Department of Labor to conduct an investigation to determine
whether or not any federal laws were broken,” Nelson wrote in an email
to CREDO Action’s Ohio activists on Sept. 1.

A spokeswoman for the Labor Department was not immediately
able to confirm whether the department had received the petition or
planned to launch an investigation.

This post will be updated with comment from the Labor Department when it becomes available.

As part of CityBeat's continuing election coverage, we’ve once again sent a questionnaire to the non-incumbent Cincinnati City Council candidates to get their reactions on a broad range of issues.

Nine of the 14 non-incumbents chose to answer our questions. Others either didn’t respond or couldn’t meet the deadline.

During the next few weeks, we will print the responses from the non-incumbents to a different topic each time.

Today’s question is, “What is your stance on the property tax rollback? Do you believe the city's property tax rate should be increased to the maximum 6.1 mills allowed under the charter, or remain at a rate to generate $28.9 million each year, or be decreased? Please explain your answer.”

BMV reviewing driver's license rules for DACA recipients

Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) is granting driver’s
licenses to some of the children of illegal immigrants, but what qualifies a few and
disqualifies others is so far unknown.

When CityBeat last covered the BMV policy (“Not Legal Enough,”
issue of Feb. 6), Ever Portillo, a 22-year-old from El Salvador, was
unable to get his license even when he was accompanied by his attorney
at the West Broad Street BMV office in Columbus. Since then, Portillo
returned to the same BMV office with his attorney, a community leader from
DreamActivist Ohio and a reporter from The Columbus Dispatch and successfully obtained his license.

At the same time, CityBeat received a tip from an
anonymous illegal immigrant after she could not get a driver’s license for her son
because, according to what she heard from the BMV, state policy is still
being reviewed.

The differences between Portillo and the woman’s
experiences are reflected by what seems to be an internal conflict at the
BMV, which CityBeat found in a series of internal documents sent by Brian
Hoffman, Portillo’s attorney. In emails dating back to January, state
officials wrote that “foreign nationals” with C33 Employment
Authorization Documents (EAD) and I-797 documents with case types I-765D
and I-821D cannot qualify for driver’s licenses. The documents are part of President Barack Obama’s
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows the children of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States without fear of prosecution.

But a Feb. 13 memo from the BMV says Ohio has not issued a
statewide policy on DACA for driver’s licenses and is currently
reviewing the process. A Feb. 19 email echoes the memo, stating “neither
the Department (of Public Safety) nor the BMV has yet issued a
statewide broadcast to provide direction regarding the DACA issue.” In a
Feb. 21 email, Lindsey Borher, spokesperson at the BMV, told CityBeat, “Our legal department is in the process of reviewing guidance from the federal government as it applies to Ohio law.”

The discrepancy between January and February may be attributable to CityBeat
originally breaking the story on the state policy, which was followed
by a barrage of statewide media coverage on the issue.

In light of the current recession and the high unemployment rate — particularly among younger adults who make up a large portion of CityBeat’s demographics — we’re publicizing an employment opportunity that also benefits the public interest.

Mallory announces construction to begin in April on track for 2015 completion

Another hurdle in the ongoing struggle to make the streetcar a reality was bypassed today, when Mayor Mark Mallory and City Manager Milton Dohoney, Jr. announced that after months entangled in a gridlock, Duke Energy and the city of Cincinnati have finally reached an agreement over who will pay for the relocation of utility lines.

Somewhat of an agreement, anyway. Mallory said that the city and Duke will go before a judge in Common Pleas court, who will make the final decision as to who should pay for the utility relocation. According to the agreement, Duke Energy will begin moving its utilities in the next few weeks, and the court decision will determine cost responsibility later. The city and Duke are expected to file in Common Pleas court within the next few weeks, although the court decision could take years to finalize.

The city broke ground on the streetcar nearly a year ago, but the skirmish between Duke and the city delayed further development — Duke refused to begin any kind of construction before financial responsibilitywas determined.

The reconciliation contains two separate agreements, one of which outlines how Duke will safely operate its utilities once the streetcar is in place. The other demarcates how Duke and the city will resolve the issue of financial responsibility; they've both agreed to abide by the court ruling after any appeals are exhausted.

"The utilities' agreements are in place, the cars are being orderedand
the construction bids are coming in," announced Dohoney.

Roxanne Qualls, city council member and Democratic mayoral candidate, has long been a supporter of the streetcar project, which she values as an indispensable economic investment for the city of Cincinnati. Yesterday, Qualls announced her request for the city to ramp upthe streetcar construction timeline in order to have the project completed in time for the All-Star Games, which will take place in Cincinnati July 2015. Her announcement came justweeks after the city revised its timetable to delay project completion until April 2016.

In a letter from Qualls to Mallory and Dohoney, she explains: “This may present a
challenge, but it is one I am sure the administration is capable of
meeting. The streetcar will serve a critical role in efficiently and
effectively moving visitors to and from Great American Ballpark and
allowing them to conveniently visit other venues such as Fountain
Square, Horseshoe Casino, Over-the-Rhine, Washington Park, etc.”

At the meeting, Mallory announced that the city would shoot for construction to be completed prior to the games, but there were no guarantees. The streetcar builderwill ultimately set the timeline for the project, according to Jason Barron, Mallory's director of public affairs.

CityBeat recently covered the streetcar project's delays and how the 2013 mayoral race could affect its progress here.

Council also approves 2014 property tax increase

Cincinnati City Council on Friday approved a budget that
relies on parking privatization as a means to plug a $34 million budget
deficit while also raising property taxes in 2014.

Mayor Mark Mallory opened up the council meeting with a
moment of silent prayer for the 27 students and adults killed at an
elementary school in Connecticut.

“I want us all to take a moment and put into perspective what we’re doing today,” he said.

Council voted to increase the property tax by about 24
percent, from 4.6 mills (a mill is equal to one-tenth of a cent) to 5.71
mills. That means Cincinnatians would pay an additional $34 for every
$100,000 of their home’s value.

The vote reverses a move made last year by conservatives on council, who reduced property taxes.

Council also passed a budget that relies on $21 million
from a proposed lease of the city’s parking facilities — a deal that is
expected to be voted on in March. Of the proposals submitted to the city
so far, Cincinnati stands to gain $100 million to $150 million in an
upfront payment and a share of the profits over the 30-year lease.

“My concern about balancing this budget with a onetime
revenue source by selling our parking system seems to be ill advised,”
said Independent Councilman Chris Smitherman. “We don’t know how council
will vote in March … but we have tied not only the budget to this one
time revenue source, but we have also tied reciprocity.”

Council nixed a plan to eliminate tax reciprocity for
people who lived in Cincinnati but worked elsewhere and paid income tax
in both cities.

Though the budget doesn’t mention parking privatization, council hasn’t mentioned other options to close the budget deficit.

If opponents of parking privatization want to keep
facilities under city control, they would have to come up with $21
million in revenue elsewhere or make $21 million in cuts.

Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld suggested using casino revenue,
cutting travel expenses, downsizing the ratio of managers to workers,
sharing services with nearby jurisdictions and downsizing the city’s
fleet as ways to cut down the budget.

Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan, long an advocate of
downsizing the police and fire departments, voted against the property tax increase
in protest of what she said was bloated spending on departments that
were outpacing population growth.

The budget also requires Cincinnati to accept police and
fire recruit classes in 2014, regardless of whether the city gets a
federal grant to fund the classes.

The budget also restores the Cincinnati Police
Department’s mounted patrol, which patrols downtown on horseback. The
city will use $105,000 from off-duty detail fees from businesses that
hire off-duty officers. Council also voted to start charging those
businesses an extra $1.64 on top of the off-duty pay.

Council also voted to shift $50,000 for repairs and
upgrades to the Contemporary Arts Center to pay for maintenance and
beautification at Washington Park, which is operated by 3CDC.